Aerated confections are popular food items. Some aerated confections comprise a fat constituent while others are substantially free of such fat constituents. An illustrative fat free aerated confection is the common marshmallow. Such marshmallow products are familiar in both larger and smaller sizes.
It is well know that such marshmallows when fresh are soft and pliable but will stale by losing moisture and become hard. Indeed, purposefully pre-dried aerated confections are also well known. These products, particularly in smaller or bit sizes, are popularly commonly added to Ready-To-Eat ("RTE") breakfast cereals, particularly those marketed to children. Due to their small size (i.e., having a number count of 4 to 6/g), these dried aerated confectionery marshmallow products are sometimes colloquially referred to as "Mar." bits or "marbits". The marbits must be pre-dried prior to admixture with the RTE cereal in order to reduce unwanted moisture migration from the marbit to the cereal and thus to forestall the multiple problems resulting therefrom.
While there are many types of marshmallow on the market, their methods of preparation generally fall into two main process groups: extruded marshmallow and deposited marshmallow. In both types, a sugar syrup and a structuring agent such as an albumin, agar or, preferably a gelatin solution are the two main ingredients. Typically, the sugar syrup is cooled down, and then combined with the gelatin solution to form a slurry. That slurry is then aerated to form a foam, and after aeration, colors and flavors are then added to the foam. The particular marshmallow product may be formed into its final shape by an extrusion process. That is, after aeration, the foam is extruded through a die to form a rope. The die imparts the desired peripheral shape to the extrudate rope. The rope is allowed to rest briefly to stiffen, and then is cut into desired sizes. For dried marshmallows, the process can additionally include one or more drying steps. (See, for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,551 issued Nov. 2, 1988 to W. J. Meyer entitled "Method of Drying Confection Pieces").
While marshmallows of a single color are most common, marshmallows having two or even a plurality of colors (collectively herein, "multi-colored") are also known (see, for example, D 376,039 issued Dec. 3, 1996 entitled "Food Product" showing a two color marbit design) as well as methods for their preparation. (See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,380 issued Oct. 20, 1986 entitled "Multicolor Confection Extrusion System and U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,404 issued Feb. 28, 1990 entitled "Multicolor Confection Extrusion System", each of which are incorporated herein by reference). Both the '404 and '380 well describe the difficulties and sensitivities of such foam product preparation. The conventional processes for making multi-colored marshmallows, teach to divide the aerated foam into a plurality of substreams, to admix a colorant into each substream with a desired color, and then extrude these colored substreams in substantially equal portions into a single rope.
While useful, these known processes necessarily have limitations. Foremost among these limitations is that the differently colored sub-streams must be combined in substantially equal proportions (e.g., 1:1 for two colors; 1:1:1 for three colors, etc.). This requirement limits the artistic freedom in finished products wherein substantially unequal proportions of color might be desired, e.g., a two color design comprising 2/3 of one color and 1/3 of the second, or even more unbalanced, namely, 95% of the first color and only 5% of the second. The prior art requirement for equal proportions of each color is due to the peculiarly compressible nature of the marshmallow foams such that even slight variations in pressure and shear, such as result from even small differences in piping size, length or that result from attempts to restrict flow rates, have amplified effects on the texture and rheological properties of the foam. As a consequence, known methods cannot provide multicolored marshmallow products having unequal proportions of each color. In particular, such problems are even more severe in connection with the provision of multicolored marbits due to the inherent difficulties of such miniaturization.
Given the state of the art, there is a continuing need for new and useful processes for the production of multi-colored marshmallow products wherein the colored phases are of unequal proportion. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide methods for the production of multicolored marshmallows of disparately proportioned colored phases.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide novel multi-colored marshmallows characterized by color phases of unequal distribution.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide methods for the preparation of multicolored marbits having disparately proportioned colored phases.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide novel multi-colored marbits characterized by color phases of unequal proportion.
Surprisingly, the above objects can be realized and novel multicolored marshmallows and marbits of unequally proportioned color phase can be provided as well as methods for their preparation.